Features
The housing crisis

Oshawa, Ont., Mayor Dan Carter meets regularly with parents whose children have died from drug overdoses on his streets. Seated in Mayor Carter’s office, they look him in the eye and reveal the nightmare they’ve lived as they tried to save their child from addiction. “Municipalities live this day in and day out. Parents call and say, ‘My child died on your streets, Mr. Mayor.’ My job is to listen, not to defend, but to listen.” 

From the streets of Vancouver to the shores of the Maritime provinces, firefighters across the country are responding to increased calls related to drug overdoses, mental health crises and encampment-related issues. Municipalities say they’re looking for innovative and collaborative solutions – but they need all levels of government at the table.

“What firefighters are seeing today is two or three crises coming together,” said Tim Richter, president and CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH). “You see the housing crisis, the lingering effects of the pandemic and you also see a toxic drug supply, so it’s multiple compounding crises.” 

Richter noted that approximately 260,000 Canadians will experience homelessness this year, up from 235,000 cited in The State of Homelessness in Canada 2016. CAEH (caeh.ca) is a registered charity based in Calgary that works on a national level to end homelessness in Canada. Richter says they’ve partnered with about 80 cities across the country to help implement solutions.

He explains that a Canada-wide housing shortage and the rising cost of rent and groceries has forced a record number of people from stable living conditions. A study released in June by Food Banks Canada found that 25 per cent of Canadians are living in poverty, a number much higher than the 10 per cent poverty rate currently cited by Statistics Canada. 

Studies show that low-income households typically spend 90 per cent of their budget on food and rent. When rent goes up by 25 per cent – as it has in many provinces since the pandemic – and food prices continue to rise,  those hovering close to the poverty line can’t absorb the increase and are forced out of their homes.

Tonight alone, an estimated 40,000 Canadians will be looking for somewhere to sleep – perhaps in a shelter, on a friend’s couch, in an encampment or in a forested area that’s out of the way. The situation is always risky and fraught with peril. “Homelessness is a housing problem, not an addiction and mental health problem,” Richter says. 

Yet homelessness, addiction and mental health are often intertwined, creating a cycle of despair that’s hard to escape from. Richter says that unsheltered Canadians tell him “It’s hard to do homelessness sober.” 

Mayor Carter said that “98 per cent of the individuals we’re dealing with on the streets in Oshawa have both a mental health and drug issue. The drug crisis has played a significant role in regard to the severity and depth and width of those that are living unsheltered. A small portion of individuals are there for economic reasons, but we have more success with them because they will accept our help and the opportunity for assistance.”

Considering the life expectancy of a person facing long-term homelessness is 50 years old compared to 80 for the average Canadian, surviving without permanent shelter is a dangerous ordeal.

Carter said that pre-pandemic numbers of unhoused people in Oshawa, a city that sits along the shores of Lake Ontario in the Greater Toronto Area, sat at about 40. Today that number is over 300. “The complexities we’ve been exposed to is something that I don’t think any of us could have predicted. The severity of mental health and the severity of drug addiction on our streets has been a real shock to many of us.” 

In Moncton, N.B., Fire Chief Conrad Landry says homelessness in his Maritime city feels like an uphill battle with the numbers of unsheltered people rising dramatically. “Ten years ago, we had a handful of homeless people and we knew them on a first name basis. The province has just come up with a stat that 55 per cent of homeless people in New Brunswick are in Moncton, which is alarming because we don’t have 55 per cent of the population. Unofficially, we’re thinking about 700 people are currently experiencing homelessness here, including living in shelters, encampments, on the streets or in the woods.”

Chief Landry says the Moncton Fire Department’s calls to those who are unsheltered have dramatically increased as well and can be put into two categories: drug overdose and encampment fires. “We do between four and five encampment fires a day and for a city of our size, that’s significant.”

His big concerns are: 1) advocating for year-round shelters, opening up beds that are typically closed during summer months; 2) potential delays to structure fires due to the number of encampment calls; and 3) addressing compassion fatigue among firefighters. 

“How can we be compassionate on the first call of the day for overdose and then on the twelfth call of the day? Sometimes it’s the same person who has overdosed multiple times in one day. These folks went through something in their lives that brought them to this. It’s not for us to judge. We feel we have a pretty good system of support, but we need to ensure that compassion at all times and take each call seriously,” Landry said.

The issue of compassion fatigue has attracted the attention of the University of Moncton, which is set to begin a study this summer. Through one-on-one interviews with the city’s firefighters, the study aims to learn more about compassion fatigue and will report back in the fall with findings and potential strategies. 

Chief Landry notes that good collaboration between the province and city has been key in brainstorming possible solutions. “The province is looking at putting a nurse in shelters, so if a nurse administers NARCAN, they may not need to call EMS and Fire.” He says that alone would be a big help for the fire department. “The province has heard us and are aware of this. We’re hoping by the end of the year it’s accomplished.”

Moncton is potentially looking to add a medical unit operating out of a small SUV in the future. With additional firefighters, the unit would respond specifically to overdose and mental health calls. “It would alleviate the stress on the equipment and the firefighters. They wouldn’t transport patients but would arrive and give immediate care until the ambulance arrives,” notes Landry.

It’s an approach that Oshawa has already taken and Carter said is having an impact. “We invested almost a million dollars in a new Rapid Response Unit. It’s a medical unit specifically for many of our homeless and unsheltered population who are dealing with addiction and mental health. We hired 20 firefighters to man that particular truck and it gets about 75 per cent of our calls related to the unsheltered population, drug and alcohol and mental health calls. They do an extraordinary job and we’ve found it to be hugely beneficial in regard to saving lives and navigating the system to get people into the right care at the right time.”

In Hamilton, Ont., Fire Chief David Cunliffe says homelessness is a significant issue, with calls to encampments rising steadily from 2022 through 2024. “The shelter system in the city is over capacity and the number of affordable housing is relatively non-existent,” he said.

In fact, Hamilton city council declared a state of emergency in April 2023 due to homelessness, opioid addiction and mental health. To help manage the crisis, the city created an encampment protocol strategy to develop a coordinated response. Meeting three times a week, the team includes the fire department, police department, municipal law enforcement, the housing and homeless division, a focused outreach team, parking and a city security team. 

“In the background there are community outreach folks that are going into the various encampment sites all the time,” Cunliffe said. “We believe right now the number of folks living in encampments is over 300 but that number is changing constantly.”

One approach Hamilton is taking is sanctioned encampment sites on city property, allowing a certain number of tents in designated areas with each tent area measuring three metres by three metres. Separation between tents ensures fire safety protocols are met. Obviously, it’s not a permanent solution but one of simply trying to keep people safe until they can find housing. 

“Housing is the number one priority for our city council,” Chief Cunliffe explains. “They’re doing everything they can to deal with the issue, but it’s not just a municipal issue – it’s provincial and federal as well.”

Oshawa’s Mayor Carter agrees that all levels of government need to come together to solve the crises that cities are facing. “We need all partners at the table. We need municipalities who are living it day to day, we need regional government to support the right programs with funds and we need the provincial and federal governments involved because it’s a national problem. The federal government has allocated funds but have not been engaged in what I believe is the worst healthcare crisis we’ve ever faced in this country.” 

When all levels of government collaborate, putting the right systems in place to affect change is possible. Carter said he’s been working with Lakeridge Health Oshawa to convert an old emergency room at the hospital into an emergency room that deals solely with mental health and addiction calls. Working closely with the Premier of Ontario, he anticipates an official announcement in August, followed by a five-month conversion of the space with doors open in early 2025. 

With specific stages of care in place, Carter believes those struggling with addiction can be freed from the cycle. Ensuring the right care from the beginning, followed quickly by a withdrawal management program and proper mental health supports is the goal. “The next stage is how do we support them when they’re released from the withdrawal management programs or addiction/mental health programs and into a supportive housing environment? We’re having these conversations with agencies and the region on how best to set that up. We’re also talking with developers who specialize in this type of supportive housing.”

He says that of the 505 overdose calls the Oshawa Fire Department responded to last year, the cost is estimated to be between $8,000 and $10,000 per call. This factors in EMS and police officers that wait at the hospital between eight and 13 hours to offload a patient. “This is not only a really good use of tax dollars in setting up this specialized emergency unit, but it’ll also release our paramedics and police back onto our streets within 20 minutes. Economically, we’re making the right strategic investments to see positive results.”

If all levels of government are willing to answer the call, city leaders are hopeful that the wave of homelessness and addiction in Canada can be quenched. Chief Landry in Moncton said to get there “we need better mental health programs, more affordable housing and the wrap-around services to be successful. The wrap-around services are important. We’re on the right track, but it’s a journey not a quick trip.”

Richter of CAEH points to the Housing First data from the Mental Health Commission of Canada which demonstrates that when shelter is provided, there are cost savings and a reduction in emergency services. “The first priority has to be housing. It took 40 years to get to this – the homelessness we’re seeing today hasn’t always existed. It’s going to take some time to get out of this.”

He says the system CAEH is teaching to communities across the country is the same as a natural disaster response system, which firefighters are familiar with. It often involves bridge housing, an interim housing solution, until permanent housing is found. “You coordinate a response with the city. You help people get back on their feet. The only difference here is how people have lost their housing in the first place,” Richter said. “The solution is municipal, provincial and federal governments making the funding available to get the housing built. Homelessness is a policy choice, it’s not an individual choice.”

Richter ended our interview by thanking firefighters across the country. “Without them, homelessness would be exponentially more lethal. It’s important firefighters know there are people in the world who recognize the toll it takes on them.”